- Sensibility: Erica's character has a particularly strange character development, from hardened prostitue to loving friend very quickly. Also, the feeling that Adrien Brody is playing both
Mr. Barthes and filmmaker makes for some strange back and forth with the narration bits.
- Cinematography: Overall, the film is trying to hard to be 'artsy.' The film has some moments of greatness, but the framing and camera work are too exaggerated that it breaks the immersion.
The editing is also quity choppy, which makes the film feel lower budget than it needs to. The film pushes too had for artistic shots at the expense of narrative flow and sensibility. Also,
the artistic direction feels a bit haphazard, with a focus on chalkboard art to communicate hidden sentiments at the beginning which then are completely gone from the film by the end.
- Energy: The film has a lot of good and benefits from solid performances, interesting characters, and a solid narrative foundation.
However, the narration bits and obsession with artistic shots and edits make the film feel a bit pretentious and separates the viewer from the experience.
- Narrative: The story is a bit haphazard. We only see the extremes, and we don't get any buildup in character development. The story loses a point a bit in the middle with all the flashes of other people's lives. We're meant to see the character arc of Mr. Barthe
but it is interrputed by all the focus on the superintendent, the principal, and the school's issues. These added parts to the narrative disrupt the flow and then introduce elements of the plot that
end unresolved and moot.
- T-Points: The film received two bonus points: one for great side-characters from Bryan Cranston and James Caan whose very short on-screen presences are very memorable and one for a harrowing sequence where
Erica is forcefully removed from Mr. Barthes' apartment.
The film has a lot going for it but it gets bogged down trying to be creative cinematically. The characters and story are interesting enough, no need to saturate the film (sometimes literally) with
fanciful editing and shot-making that makes the film feel less approachable. The biggest issue here is that when creating a masterpiece one must hide the brush strokes. Here, the painting is beautiful, but
we can see too much of the craftsmanship first-hand.
Number of Watches: 1
